Participants: Carlton P. Byrd
Series Code: BOL
Program Code: BOL000052
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00:00 ♪ (Theme Song) ♪ ♪ Jesus is worthy . . . ♪
00:15 ♪ oh yes, he's worthy. . . ♪ ♪ worthy of all... ♪ 00:17 (Music ) CB: Want to get into the Word, 00:23 now? You ready for the Word? 00:24 Let me hear you say Amen. 00:26 I say, you ready for the Word? 00:27 Let me hear you say hallelujah. 00:29 Praise be to God. 00:30 I'm Dr. Carlton Byrd and I want to welcome you to the Berean 00:32 Seventh Day Adventist Church, here in Atlanta, 00:34 Georgia, home of the Breath of Life 00:35 Television Ministries, and we're ready to get 00:37 into the Word today. 00:38 We're going to ask if everyone would now take their Bibles 00:42 and go with me to the Book of Matthew. 00:46 Matthew 1:18, the Gospel according to Matthew. 01:01 If you have it, let me hear you say Amen. 01:03 The Word of God says, "Now the birth of Jesus Christ 01:06 was on this wise. 01:07 When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph before they 01:10 came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. 01:15 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man 01:16 and not willing to make her a public example, 01:22 was minded to put her away privily," or privately. 01:26 "But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of 01:28 the LORD appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou 01:32 son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for 01:41 that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. 01:45 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his 01:49 name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. 01:52 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was 01:55 spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a 02:00 virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, 02:02 and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being 02:04 interpreted is, God with us. 02:06 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the 02:10 Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: And knew 02:12 her not"--and knew her not--"till she had brought 02:24 forth her firstborn son: and he called his name Jesus. 02:29 Repeat after me, turn to your neighbor and say, neighbor, 02:32 are you ready for the journey? 02:36 Father God, right now bless us now. 02:38 We want to be ready for the journey, so Lord, we pray 02:41 that you would speak to us and through us this day. 02:44 God, we give you all the praise, 02:46 the honor and the glory. 02:47 Hide me behind Your cross. 02:48 Oh, Lord God, today I'm praying for a double portion 02:51 of Your Holy Ghost. 02:53 I'm praying that, Lord, You will zap us with Your Spirit. 02:59 Zap us with your spirit in this sanctuary, zap us with 03:01 Your Spirit over the airways. 03:03 God, may your anointing fall and make the difference today. 03:05 When the appeal is made, may individuals come running, 03:08 saying, what must I do to be saved? 03:09 Forgive me of my sins. 03:10 In the name of Jesus we pray, let everyone say Amen. 03:13 And Amen. 03:16 Are you ready for the journey? 03:20 Life is full of journeys: long journeys, short journeys, easy 03:26 journeys, tough journeys. 03:29 Life is full of journeys. 03:30 Talk about long journeys, what if everywhere you went 03:33 you had to walk? 03:34 No car, no airplane, no train, no bus, just your feet. 03:44 Can you imagine how much longer it would take you to get 03:48 to Macon if you had to walk? 03:52 Imagine, imagine how many stops you'd have to make 03:56 along the way. 03:58 It might be a trip you'd make only once in your lifetime. 04:02 Do I have a witness in this place? 04:03 What if you and your family got ready to go to Macon, 04:08 and you didn't walk, but you traveled by donkey. 04:12 Think about how long it would take you to get there on 04:15 a donkey. 04:16 I mean, my family and I, my wife, Danielle, and our 04:19 daughters, Kristen and Kali, we can get in a car 04:22 on a journey. 04:24 And after one hour, I can hear my daughters in the back, 04:28 Daddy are we there yet? 04:31 Five minutes later, Daddy, are we there yet? 04:34 And that's in a car, but what about on a donkey? 04:38 And don't mention all the luggage the poor donkey 04:42 would have to haul around. 04:44 When I think about that, and I think about the birth of Jesus 04:48 and the journey that Joseph, Mary, baby Jesus in the womb 04:53 had to take, I conclude that it's not just how far you have 04:58 to go in your destination, but it's also the circumstances 05:03 you have to travel with. 05:06 Sometimes you will think that you're very close to your 05:10 destination, closer than you would think, closer than you 05:15 imagined, closer than you would have believed possible, 05:20 and the enemy, though he can't change the distance of your 05:24 trip, he can change the circumstances of your trip. 05:30 But when you're close, I'm so happy to say today, the devil 05:33 can't stop you from being close. 05:35 The Holy Spirit will let you know when you are close. 05:40 The Holy Ghost will let you know that you are nearer to 05:43 your salvation than when you first believed. 05:45 You are closer now than you've ever been before in your life. 05:49 So don't give up, don't give in, don't give out, 05:54 just hang on in there, the blessing is close. 05:59 You're nearer to it, you're on the verge of it, you're 06:06 about to step into it. 06:07 It's not the distance because the enemy can't change the 06:10 distance. 06:11 The devil can move it back, but it does feel like the 06:14 devil moves back your destination sometimes. 06:17 It feels as though every time you're on the verge of finally 06:19 getting your head around the things you've been believing 06:23 in God for, believe in God for to do in your life, the devil 06:26 says, I'm moving it back. 06:28 But you know what? 06:30 The devil can't move it back. 06:32 But isn't it amazing how something that should have 06:37 happened quick in your life can take a long time. 06:39 Think about the children of Israel, think about 06:41 the children of Israel. 06:42 It wasn't really far to go from Egypt 06:45 to the Promised Land. 06:46 It was not a great distance; look it up. 06:48 It should have taken a few days for them to get there, 06:50 but the Bible teaches that it ended up 06:54 taking them forty years. 06:55 Now, it's not like the devil kept moving the Promised Land. 06:58 The Promised Land was situated in one place. 07:01 It was always where it was supposed to be. 07:03 The enemy cannot change the destination, but he will mess 07:06 with the circumstances. 07:09 Sometime the mode of transportation that you take 07:12 has a lot to do with how long it takes to get there. 07:15 The circumstances whereby we travel and what causes our 07:19 faith to be significant, it's not always the distance. 07:23 You're close to your blessings, but when you think 07:27 about the things that happened along the way, 07:31 I'm learning that it's not even about the destination. 07:34 The destination's not even important. 07:36 God has already set the end from the beginning. 07:40 God is already the first and the last, Alpha and Omega. 07:45 It's not about the destination. 07:48 The destination is set. 07:51 It's about the thing that happen along the way. 07:56 And sometimes today, I must admit as I'm getting older, 07:59 I'm frustrated because people look at where we are now 08:03 without any appreciation of where we came from. 08:08 Let me be clear to everybody today. 08:11 We didn't always have nice cars. 08:14 Somebody in this place used to walk. 08:16 Do I have a witness in this place? 08:18 Somebody used to ride the bus, somebody used 08:21 to take the train. 08:22 Somebody back in the day used to ride a donkey. 08:25 We haven't always had nice homes. 08:27 Somebody used to live in a shack. 08:29 Somebody used to live in a tent. 08:32 We didn't always have air-conditioning or heat. 08:34 Somebody remembers, you used to have 08:38 to wave a fan in church. 08:39 Are you hearing what I'm saying? 08:40 I've learned in life you better tell somebody, if you have 08:44 seen where I started, you maybe would 08:49 appreciate where I am. 08:50 I might not be as far as you would like for me to be, but 08:54 if you look at where I came from, you would know that it 08:58 was God who brought me through everything I went through to 09:02 get where I am today. 09:04 So I may not be all that I should be, but praise God, I'm 09:08 not where I used to be. 09:11 The problem with many of us, when we read the Bible, we're 09:16 reading from the other side of the story. 09:21 We read about the journey after the journey is over. 09:26 In our text today we read it, and we're reading about Jesus, 09:30 Mary and Joseph. 09:32 But you know what? 09:33 We're reading about it 2,000 years later. 09:37 We know how the story ends, we know the ultimate destination, 09:42 we know everything works out, because we're reading the 09:47 story after the fact. 09:49 We also know what Jesus is to us, but what happened 09:54 on the journey? 09:56 Today, what if you were Joseph? 09:59 What if along your journey you found a beautiful young lady, 10:05 that you have been seeing for some time, you have now 10:07 announced to all of your friends that she is going to 10:11 be your bride. 10:12 You have already begun to set things in place to marry her. 10:17 But before you could get to the wedding, your lady starts 10:23 picking up some weight. 10:27 A lot, a lot. 10:29 I mean, a lot of weight. 10:33 All in the middle, are you hearing what I'm saying? 10:36 And because you're a gentleman, you don't want to 10:40 say anything about it, because you notice things but you 10:44 don't say anything at first, but after a while it 10:50 forces a conversation. 10:55 Joseph is a little timid. Baby! 11:00 You've gotten a little thick. 11:04 I mean, really thick. 11:09 You can get thick after the wedding but not before 11:12 the wedding. 11:15 Well, Joseph, I've been meaning to tell you that I've 11:19 got these circumstances that have come up. 11:25 Circumstances? 11:27 What do you mean, circumstances? 11:29 Well, you're not going to believe this, I've been 11:34 waiting on the right time to tell you, because you're not 11:39 going to believe this, but I'm expecting. 11:45 Expecting? 11:48 Expecting what? 11:51 A present? 11:53 A gift? 11:55 No, I'm expecting. 12:02 A baby? 12:04 Yeah, but Joseph, don't get this wrong. 12:07 This is unusual. 12:08 We've never seen anything like this before. 12:14 But this is the Lord's doing. 12:18 Yeah, right. 12:21 Now, remember, Joseph doesn't know the end of the story. 12:25 Joseph doesn't know the end of the journey. 12:27 Imagine what's going on in Joseph's mind. 12:30 Remember, the Bible says Mary's a virgin. 12:34 Which means, if you don't know what a virgin is, she's never 12:37 been with anybody before. 12:41 They aren't married. 12:43 Joseph's trying to do things God's way. 12:46 Joseph's never been with her. 12:49 But then she tells Joseph she's pregnant. 12:54 He's thinking somebody's been there before he has. 12:59 Joseph walked away from her, Joseph says, Hmm, hmm, hmm. 13:03 Now I have to live with this. 13:05 And not only do I have to live with this, everybody knows 13:07 about it. 13:08 Let me ask you a question. 13:11 Have you ever loved and been angry at somebody at the same 13:14 time? 13:17 Isn't that a feeling? 13:19 I mean it's a feeling where you want to slap somebody down 13:21 the stairs. 13:22 But then you love them so much that you have to run down 13:26 there and catch them and say, "Did you hurt yourself?" 13:34 [laughter] Children will do that to you. 13:37 Do I have a witness in this place? 13:39 But Joseph was not the kind of man to make snap judgments or 13:42 hasty decisions. 13:43 He considered his options, but he did not act on his initial 13:46 impulse to divorce Mary. 13:47 To have done so would have been to go against the grain 13:50 of holy destiny. 13:52 He thought before he spoke or acted. 13:57 Lesson for us today. 13:58 Not thinking before acting can be dangerous. 14:04 Have you ever acted before you thought? 14:07 Have you ever said or done anything in hate, causing 14:09 irreparable damage? 14:11 Do you wish you could go back and take back a word or deed, 14:13 knowing that if you did so, your life would be different 14:16 today? 14:19 Let me give you some advice. 14:20 Don't put your mouth in motion before putting your 14:23 mind in gear. 14:25 Joseph says, all right, Mary, I'm going to put 14:29 you away privately. 14:31 In the Bible, now, you need to understand. 14:34 Back in the day, an engagement was like a marriage. 14:37 It required a bill of divorcement to get out of it. 14:39 So Joseph says, we're going to secretly and discretely go 14:43 down to the lawyer, sign the papers, and we're going 14:47 to get out of this. 14:47 Then when he gets ready to sign the papers to put her 14:49 away, she's distraught because she's told him the truth and 14:52 he doesn't believe her. 14:55 And you know how it is, brothers, when a woman tells 14:57 you the truth, and you don't believe her. 15:03 I told you the truth and you don't believe me. 15:07 And so the angel of the Lord comes to Joseph and 15:10 says to him, fear not. 15:14 That that's inside of Mary is conceived by the Holy Ghost. 15:21 All right, the angel comes to him, and he says this to him. 15:25 Now, Joseph's really confused. 15:27 He's trying to believe something that common sense 15:30 says couldn't be possible. 15:31 His faith and his reasoning are now in conflict. 15:35 He has told Mary that he's going to give her a divorce. 15:37 Now God has said she's telling the truth. 15:43 Joseph gets it now. 15:45 In order to save the world, on his journey he has to raise 15:52 another man's baby. 15:55 Now, you've got to go back and tell somebody that you told 16:03 off, somebody that you told, I didn't believe you, 16:11 that they were right. 16:13 Your friends are saying, man, your girlfriend, I just don't 16:16 know about her. 16:18 You know how we can do. 16:20 Man, if I were you, I would just get out of it. 16:22 Be careful who your counselors are, because some of them, by 16:26 their own example, can't counsel you on anything. 16:30 Do I have a witness in this place? 16:32 Man, get out of it, man, you don't have to do it. 16:34 Can you imagine what Joseph's friends must have 16:36 been telling him? 16:37 I mean, I would have told my friend, if I were a best man 16:41 at somebody's wedding and she had gotten pregnant from 16:43 somebody else, I would tell him, man, you 16:44 don't have to do this. 16:45 It may look bad now, you may be embarrassed for a while 16:46 now, but you don't have to do this. 16:50 And then can you imagine being Mary, trying to tell somebody 16:53 the truth, and they're not believing you. 16:55 And now they're trying to go along with it, but they've 16:57 already told everybody that they were going 16:59 to get rid of you. 17:01 How comfortable is your marriage? 17:03 Are you with a guy who's told you he's going 17:06 to get rid of you? 17:07 And here they are, going down the road, going on a journey, 17:13 trying to deal with this issue, and then on top of 17:17 that, a new tax comes out. 17:21 And in order to deal with the taxation, you have to go back 17:24 to the city where the groom is from to pay the tax. 17:30 So you've got to ride together. 17:33 You're on a journey, and now you have a debt 17:36 you weren't expecting. 17:37 You've got a baby you weren't looking for, you've got a 17:40 crisis that makes you look like a fool, and you've 17:44 got to walk to Bethlehem. 17:48 Brothers, I bet that was a long walk. 17:56 Where are all the married men in the house? 17:58 Don't be scared, come on, where are all the married men 18:00 in the house? 18:01 Brothers, there's no time like the time you spend with a 18:06 woman whose feelings are hurt about something you've said. 18:14 That makes for a long night. 18:15 Do I have a witness in this place? 18:18 Oh, I'm the only one. 18:20 [laughter] Too many of y'all have been in my office, I know 18:28 I ain't the only one. 18:29 Come on, say Amen. 18:32 [applause] She says, I just can't get over it, 18:45 I can't get over it. 18:46 Put the canteen on the back of a donkey, let's go, 18:48 but I can't get over it. 18:49 They're walking down there by foot with a pregnant woman in 18:58 the heat in the Middle East. 19:03 No air-conditioner, no fan, no music, no padded seats. 19:11 She's pregnant on a donkey in the heat, traveling on hot 19:15 sand, inconvenienced, with somebody you're mad with. 19:21 And in the back of her mind she just keeps hearing God 19:25 say, Mary, you've been favored among all women. 19:31 Hold up, God, I've got a man who doesn't believe me. 19:34 I've got a donkey who's knocking me 19:36 all over the place. 19:38 My feet are swollen, I've got a mask over my face, I've got 19:43 to stop and throw up after so many miles, I'm still miles 19:47 away from getting to the destination, my back hurts, 19:50 my feet hurt, I feel like I'm about to go in labor, I feel 19:53 like I don't have any confidence in this guy, 19:56 because he was getting ready to get rid of me. 19:58 And God, you're telling me I'm highly favored? 20:00 Have you ever come to church, and the preacher, Pastor Byrd, 20:07 preaches something that was totally contradictory to your 20:10 circumstance? 20:13 Here you are, we sing give glory to God. 20:17 Give glory to God, and you're about to get happy. 20:20 You're about to shout, you're about to say Amen, you're 20:23 about to wave your hand because they're talking about 20:25 walking in divine favor. 20:26 You're saying, yes, Lord. 20:28 And then you say, but wait a minute, unh-unh. 20:31 I forgot about that eviction notice. 20:36 I forgot about my wayward child. 20:39 I forgot that my marriage is on the rocks. 20:42 I forgot about that sickness in my body. 20:45 Sometimes the circumstances totally contradict the words 20:49 you're being taught. 20:52 It's a long night when you're taught one thing on Sabbath 20:56 morning and then you're going through it as soon as 20:58 the sun sets. 21:01 So because of the argument that Joseph and Mary had, 21:05 the house is now tight. 21:09 What do I mean? 21:10 You know how even after the argument stops, the 21:13 disagreement stops between a husband and wife, but 21:15 the tightness continues? 21:17 Oh, I'm the only one. 21:24 It's not that anybody is saying anything. 21:28 It's just tight. 21:30 The whole house is tight. 21:35 The TV is scared to talk. 21:39 [laughter] The house is tight. 21:42 The dog leaves out of the house. 21:47 The goldfish goes down the drain. 21:49 The house is tight. 21:51 The kids know when to go in their rooms. 21:56 The house is tight. 22:01 Good morning. 22:05 Good morning. 22:08 How'd you sleep? 22:09 Fine! 22:11 Have a good day. 22:12 You too! 22:12 Is there anybody who's ever been in a tight situation? 22:16 Don't raise your hand, come on, say Amen. 22:27 Here you are, going down the road on a donkey with a 22:32 pregnant woman. 22:35 And one of the worst things you can do in life, I've 22:38 learned it several times over, is make a pregnant woman mad. 22:43 Do I have a witness in this place? 22:44 You can say Amen on that. 22:48 Mary's already pregnant. 22:51 She's already hot. 22:54 She's about to go into labor. 22:56 The relationship is not going well. 22:58 She's pregnant by the Lord, and you're trying to deal with 23:02 this, Joseph is, and to be respectable at the same time. 23:05 You're trying to believe that God is somehow in the midst of 23:09 this situation. 23:12 Have you ever been in a situation that you were trying 23:14 to believe that God was somehow in it? 23:18 God must be in this somewhere. 23:21 I don't know where, I don't know how, but God's got 23:25 to be in here. 23:26 God, where are you? 23:28 Job said in the Word of God, I looked for him on the right 23:32 hand and he's not there. 23:35 I looked for him on the left, and he was not there. 23:38 Have you ever looked for your God in your situation and you 23:40 said, God, where are you? 23:44 This is the worst time in the world for me to be dealing 23:48 with some mess. 23:49 God, where are the promises? 23:51 God, where are you? 23:52 God, I need you right now. 23:56 But David warned us about this. 23:59 David told us specifically that weeping may endure 24:07 for a night, but joy comes in the morning time. 24:15 But I must confess, I wish that David had told me how 24:19 long the night would be. 24:23 I thought he was talking about six or seven hours or 24:25 something like that. 24:26 But that's not the night he's talking about. 24:28 This is a long night. 24:31 This could be months and months and months of night. 24:36 This could be years of nights. 24:38 You could be in the hospital for months and months 24:42 and months. 24:42 Night. 24:43 The night could be so long that you lose your car, you 24:45 lose your house, you lose your credit rating. 24:47 It can be a long night. 24:48 I can picture Joseph and Mary, a couple of goats and donkeys 24:52 traveling down the road on this journey with him, and 24:55 she's half talking, he's half talking. 24:56 And they finally got to a place and the innkeeper comes 24:59 out and says, hello, I would really like to help you, 25:02 but there's no room. 25:05 Just go down, maybe a mile or two down the road. 25:08 That means walk further. 25:10 And there's an inn now there, and I know the manager, 25:12 and he'll be happy to take care of you. 25:14 Joseph walks down there, and they tell Joseph after he gets 25:17 there, well, if you had just gotten here sooner. 25:22 PB: Thank you very much for tuning in and watching 25:24 Breath of Life today. 25:25 We do hope that you were blessed by our ministry and 25:29 that we gave a healing word in a hurting world. 25:33 In order for Breath of Life to continue ministering, 25:36 we need you. 25:37 We need your prayers, we need your support. 25:40 We want you to know that any and all donations, small or 25:42 great, they are sincerely welcomed and appreciated. 25:47 To contact us, or to make your donation, please feel free to 25:50 give us a call at 877-BOL-OFFER. 25:55 Or you may write to us at Breath of Life, P O Box 340, 25:58 Newbury Park, CA 91319. 26:13 Feel free to log onto our website at 26:15 www.breathoflife.tv. 26:22 >: The Bible, it's the most powerful book on the planet. 26:26 It's also the one book many people find the hardest 26:30 to understand. 26:31 If you've ever struggled with the meaning of the Bible then 26:33 our offer this week is just for you. 26:35 "How Can I Understand the Bible" by John Drain unlocks 26:38 the doors to the meanings behind the messages found 26:41 in God's word. 26:42 Learn about the law, the prophets and the gospel. 26:45 Discover the single message that runs throughout the Bible 26:47 and then rejoice when you understand that Jesus Christ 26:50 is at the center of it all. 26:52 Just call our toll free number and request "How Can I 26:55 Understand the Bible." The number is 877-BOL-OFFER. 26:59 That's 877-265-6333. 27:03 The book is yours for a gift of just $5 or more. 27:06 You may also write to us at Breath of Life, Box 340, 27:09 Newbury Park, California 91319. 27:13 Remember to include your gift of $5 or more. 27:15 Get to the heart of what the Bible means. 27:17 Get your copy of "How Can I Understand the Bible" today. 27:22 PB: Hello, I'm Dr. Carlton Byrd, speaker-director for 27:25 Breath of Life Television Ministries. 27:27 For the past year, it has been my joy to preach the gospel of 27:32 Jesus Christ across the globe, but principally from the 27:36 sanctuary of the Berean Seventh-day Adventist Church 27:39 in Atlanta, Georgia. 27:41 Beginning in January 2012, I will continue to preach 27:45 the gospel of Jesus Christ, and Breath of Life 27:47 will still be here. 27:48 But it will come from the sanctuary of the Oakwood 27:51 University Church, in Huntsville, Alabama, 27:53 on the campus of Oakwood University. 27:56 It will be the same Breath of Life, 27:58 the same preacher, the same gospel 28:00 of Jesus Christ, the same channel, 28:03 the same station, at the same time. 28:05 Just a different location. 28:07 We solicit your continued prayers and support as we take 28:11 this wonderful gospel of Jesus Christ to a dying world. 28:17 May God bless you. 28:23 PB: Have you ever been in a situation that you were trying 28:25 to believe that God was |
Revised 2015-02-06